Brrrr, It's Cold in Here...

Pretty much everyone knows (due to my incessant complaining) that my office is like an igloo. I have a snuggie that I keep under my desk, and I have no shame in trotting around the office in it. However, it still doesn't keep my quick-typing hands warm. Today... that problem was solved. The other day I bookmarked these hand-knitted fingerless gloves from the Etsy shop Homespun Handmaiden, and voila! Ry ordered them like the sweet husband he is. Trust me, he's heard the majority of my complaints, and decided to do something about it. Yay! for Etsy, Yay! for handmade, and Yay! for warm hands!

(Oh, and if you now have that terrible Bring It On cheer in your head, my job here is done. Booyah.)

Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.

Little bitty Etsy.com is a website that I've been obsessed with for quite some time now. You can buy and sell just about any kind of handmade good, including art, jewelry, stationary, music, furniture.... you name it! It was such a breath of fresh air for me in the midst of our wedding planning. I wish I had known about it from the moment he proposed, for I would have ordered EVERYTHING from here. You know what you're getting is unique and made with care, and best yet, you can work with vendors to personally customize projects for you.

For example, one vendor, Clayin' Around, made a customized cake topper for our wedding cake out of polymer clay of a groom and an eskimo woman... which was an inside joke between Ryan and I (he claims that I look like an eskimo... don't ask!). She sent me multiple photo proofs of the figurine, and once I approved it, I completed the payment and voila! I had our perfect cake topper. It was probably one of our favorite parts of the wedding... and Etsy can take full credit for that. Here's a few more wedding details that were ordered from Etsy:

Our ring bearer carried this little pillow, designed with coordinating patterned fabrics and embellished with ribbons in varying shades of brown. Vendor: bride design

Pear-shaped crystal, ballroom earrings, in smoky silver, with precision facets. The pendants dangle below Swarovski crystal rondelles on sterling silver wire and french hooks. I wore these for the wedding! Vendor: Made by Kalli

Handcrafted flower hair pins using ivory/cream silk hydrangea petals with a freshwater pearl, a white pearl and a Swarovski crystal beaded center. I wore these in my hair. Vendor: kris kreations

Wedding aside, this is my most recent purchase, just for fun! I love the design of the fabric: White with blue flowers silver plated pendant necklace. Made by hand embossing aluminum and then applying fabric to the embossed design. Vendor: Twist 21

As you can see, I LOVE ETSY!